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View Full Version : Advantage Boats has my K-boat mold!



ss wannabe
03-28-2002, 04:29 PM
I've been trying to recover my dad's K/SS mold for a few years now, and I need help, I think. After dad laid up his boat in 1984, Harry Christensen took in my dad's new mold, and agreed to store it in exchange for the right to build a boat from it. He built a handful, and never paid my dad the $500 each they agreed upon after the first. Harry raced a couple of them, LongShot and LastShot among them, and sold a few others. One ended up K-614 DangerZone.
They added a strut shroud to the mold, or made a new mold that way, and then parked the mold(s) in their yard in Havasu. Mrs. Christensen has refused to sell or release dad's mold, though they have no plans to race again, and they've been sitting for 12 yrs.
Does anyone know someone who might be able to help?

Stab-n-Steer
03-29-2002, 06:34 AM
wannabe,
Dude, call a lawyer. After sitting in outside in AZ for 12 years I'm not sure you'll have much to recover... Good luck.
S&S

HavasuDreamin'
03-29-2002, 06:44 AM
Stab n Steer is right. My suggestion, either talk to a lawyer and see what can be done or throw a stick of dynamite in the molds so they can't benefit from them either! http://free.***boat.net/ubb/wink.gif

ss wannabe
03-29-2002, 07:46 AM
i agree. i'm sure it's junk by now, but i'm just a little bitter that the family (Harry is dead) is so quick to tell me to pound sand. i would really like to send the message that treating me honestly would have made their lifes easier...

wsuwrhr
03-29-2002, 05:44 PM
If no written agreement was made, possession is 9/10 the law. You are pretty much up shit creek. Ask any scorned fiance about the engagement ring. Yet there are other ways to retrieve objects.

old rigger
03-29-2002, 08:43 PM
sswannabe...
As I told you on az don's site, I had a feeling they might still be at Advantage. I can't even think why, after Harry and Jeff are both dead, they would even want the thing. These guys are right about the condition of them as well. They never covered their molds when they were in Anaheim, I can't even imagine what they look like after all these years sitting out, on asphalt, in the Az heat. See if you can get a look at them before you get worked up over getting them back and spend a bunch on legal fees and stuff. You might be better off popping a new one off of your hull. I'm not discounting the fact that your dad built them, and the sentimental value they must hold for you. I think it would be very cool if you were able to retrive them and bring them up to snuff. Who knows, if they have been stored with the deck mold on the hull mold, and bolted together (I think these had that provision) you might be able to save them with a good block sanding and buff out.
Good luck
ps....you are better off dealing with whoever
is in charge now, than you would have been dealing with Harry on this issue.

ss wannabe
03-29-2002, 09:52 PM
rigger-
i couldn't agree more. they are likely junk by now, and as the agreement between harry and my dad was not in writing, i don't expect to get much from them. i would like the opportunity to make that assessment for myself, of course, but i've been thinking of making a new mold off of my boat for a while regardless. it's too light, and showing signs that it's tired. it will need some repair (the deck is sunken in places- from not being supported properly and being built too light), but oh well. i think as long as the family is in control, i'm out of luck. i'm not going to spend a bunch of legal fees, but i still might like to make a point...

Fired Up
03-31-2002, 11:09 AM
Maybe I missed something here. Are Harry and Jeff dead for real or is this a metaphor you are using for discussion sake?

ss wannabe
03-31-2002, 01:02 PM
no, they are really dead. Harry was killed in a private plane incident, and his son was killed in a boat race off California's coast.

Backfire
03-31-2002, 01:47 PM
More specifically, Harry was shot by a guy that was supposed to be buying his "old" plane.Jeff was killed less than a year later in a race near Pittsburg, Ca.
A boat mold requires a bit of storage space, and I'm gathering from all this that Harry had this mold in Anaheim? It seems that if the mold has this kind of value, you might have kept it on a shorter leash and retrieved it before it could rack up the kind of storage bill that makes it valueless!
On the sympathetic side, I gotta tell you that people usually reap what they sow in how they treat people and from things I've heard about employment at Advantage, it's possible that bad karma claimed Harry and his son. Now his race boat mold has sentimental value to his family and you probably look like an opportunist to them if they had no knowlege of the deal.
Outside of making an attempt to buy it if it's any good, there is probably little you will be able to do to fix the situation to your satisfaction...GOOD LUCK!

Backfire
03-31-2002, 01:51 PM
Advantage now has storage units on the property, so it's possible that your mold has been indoors, but the heat out here is intense, and warpage could be a factor.

Thunderbutt
03-31-2002, 03:58 PM
Do you think Harry reniged on the plan deal to? Originally posted by Backfire:
More specifically, Harry was shot by a guy that was supposed to be buying his "old" plane.Jeff was killed less than a year later in a race near Pittsburg, Ca.
A boat mold requires a bit of storage space, and I'm gathering from all this that Harry had this mold in Anaheim? It seems that if the mold has this kind of value, you might have kept it on a shorter leash and retrieved it before it could rack up the kind of storage bill that makes it valueless!
On the sympathetic side, I gotta tell you that people usually reap what they sow in how they treat people and from things I've heard about employment at Advantage, it's possible that bad karma claimed Harry and his son. Now his race boat mold has sentimental value to his family and you probably look like an opportunist to them if they had no knowlege of the deal.
Outside of making an attempt to buy it if it's any good, there is probably little you will be able to do to fix the situation to your satisfaction...GOOD LUCK!

Fired Up
03-31-2002, 04:34 PM
Wow! I had no idea these events had occured. I bought my first ski boat from harry in the mid 80's. Unfortunate.

Backfire
03-31-2002, 06:40 PM
No, Harry was contacted by a psycho ex-convict after advertising his plane on the internet. He was leery of the guy and took another local pilot with him for the test flight, then the guy was supposed to bring the funds to the airport the next day, but when he showed up without money and instead brandished a gun while Harry was sitting in the plane, the transaction could not be completed and he shot Harry and took off with the plane and body.The bad guy was caught almost immediately in New Mexico, but Harry was missing for months.

ss wannabe
04-01-2002, 07:48 AM
The sales guy at Advantage told me the molds have been sitting out in their lot at Havasu for years. You are probably right about warpage and sun damage. The mold was passed on to Harry when he was still based in Anaheim, but he moved it with him to Havasu when they built that facility. You are also correct about staying in contact with Harry if we ever expected him to live up to the arrangement. No question, dad should not have vanished after the deal was made. I was only 11 years old at the time. I was there, when we made the arrangements, at George McDougal's home in SoCal, along with dad and Harry. I would guess that dad and McDougal have talked less than five times since, and dad had probably never talked to Harry afterward.